Russellville Junior High School students will host a fundraiser on Feb. 1 in the cafeteria in which they’ll showcase various interactive projects to the Russellville community, with everything from a zoetrope to a booth on how to build your own household robot.

The event will mark the culmination of a semester’s work in their eighth- and ninth-grade engineering classes, which began at the junior high for the first time in August and has seen a productive response from its students.

For Rachel Cogburn, the teacher of the courses, the interactivity of the courses combined with the flexibility to run the class as needed has made it a rewarding and fun experience.

“It’s amazing. I have a lot of freedom to be able to pace everything as I see fit, so if something’s taking a little longer than expected, I’m able to slow everything down and allow for the extra days so make sure that all students understand,” she said.

The school district implemented the engineering courses, which the high school already offered before this year, to the junior high level following a start-up grant provided by the state. Since then, Cogburn has applied for and received two more grants totaling $3,000.

With the need to purchase costly classroom materials, the inclusion of such a course to the junior high curriculum comes at a price for the school district, although the state grants helped to cover the costs.

But the result is a class that teaches students valuable tools to prepare them for future careers in the engineering field. The eighth-grade course is divided into two semesters: the fall semester previews and prepares students for a more intensive hands-on ninth-grade class, and the spring semester deals primarily with robotics.

“We’ll go through different gears and mechanisms and put together robotic equipment to perform a task,” Cogburn said.

The ninth-grade course contains more advanced lessons, including the design process — a process Cogburn described as engineering’s scientific method — technical sketching before implementing technology to allow the students to apply what they’ve learned.

“This is something that will either spark their interest, or they’ll figure out which direction they want to go,” she said. “If they want to stay in engineering, or if they want to go more towards science, or if they want to focus on math, they’re going to figure that out early on. And that’s what this class is for.”

“I’m very passionate about everything as well,” she added. “They see my passion and excitement and that gets them excited as well.”

Cogburn said in addition to showcasing projects, they will also have items for sale that the class made, including a three-dimensional puzzle.

And the robotics team, which Cogburn sponsors as part of an extracurricular activity, has a robotics competition next month.